Houston Astros

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McHugh will receive a $5 million salary for the 2018 campaign rather than the $4.55 million the Astros suggested when arbitration figures were filed in mid-January. The 30-year-old right-hander is in line for a bullpen job this season in Houston, though there is growing chatter that he could be traded this spring.

The arbitration hearing between the Astros and Collin McHugh is scheduled for Tuesday in Phoenix.

McHugh requested $5 million and was offered $4.55 million by the Astros when arbitration figures were exchanged last month. He'll earn one salary or the other for 2018, though he could end up being traded before the start of the season. The Orioles are one team that reportedly has interest.

Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports reports that the Orioles have discussed Collin McHugh with the Astros.

McHugh is currently pegged for a long relief role with the Astros, but he would add a much-needed solid arm to an Orioles rotation that currently has only Kevin Gausman and Dylan Bundy locked into jobs. The 30-year-old is eligible for arbitration for a second time this winter. Any team trading for him would have him under club control through 2019.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that Astros starter Collin McHugh is drawing trade interest from a number of teams.

Jake Odorizzi of the Rays is also popular on the trade market and is being sought by some of the same clubs that have reached out to the Astros about potentially acquiring McHugh. Those clubs include the Twins, Orioles, and possibly the Yankees. This trade market for mid-tier starting pitchers might not truly get going until top free agent starters Yu Darvish and Jake Arrieta have found landing spots. McHugh, 30, missed the first half of the 2017 season with a right elbow impingement but posted a solid 3.55 ERA and 62 strikeouts over 63 1/3 innings (12 starts) when he finally came off the disabled list.

Astros and OF George Springer avoided arbitration by agreeing to a two-year, $24 million contract.

The deal is a compromise after Springer recently requested $10.5 million and was offered $8.5 million by the Astros when arbitration figures were exchanged last month. Springer is a Super Two player, so he will have one more year of arbitration eligibility in 2020. The 28-year-old is coming off a brilliant year where he batted .282/.367/.522 with 34 home runs over 140 games.

"I’ve been thinking about it over the last few years," the 38-year-old Van Hekken told Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. "I always wanted to come back and give it another try to get back to the big leagues and see if I could do it. I would love an opportunity and hopefully there will be one." Having pitched overseas for the past six seasons -- the southpaw hasn't pitched in the majors since 2002 -- and in a market where pitching is anything but scarce, it's hard to see this comeback story ending well. But hey, shoot your shot.

Ken Giles won his arbitration case against the Astros and will earn a $4.6 million salary in 2018.

The Astros had filed at $4.2 million. The Astros' closer enters the season on shaky ground after being removed from his ninth-inning gig during the postseason. He was terrific with a 2.30 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 62 2/3 frames during the regular season however while recording 34 saves.

Astros GM Jeff Luhnow said one of the reasons Forrest Whitley won't be in MLB camp this spring is to keep him fresh for a potential promotion this summer.

"He's going to get some exposure in camp," Luhnow said, "but the reality is there's a good possibility [Whitley] will continue to progress and be an option for us late in the summer, and any time you can conserve some innings in February and March [that] you can deposit into September and October, that's a good thing." Whitley has established himself as one of the best pitching prospects in baseball, and if the Astros are serious about having him contribute down the stretch in 2018, it does make some sense to limit his exposure early on.

Giles requested a $4.6 million salary and was offered $4.2 million from the Astros when arbitration figures were exchanged earlier this month. A panel will select one of those numbers, with an announcement likely coming Friday. Giles registered a stellar 2.30 ERA with 83 strikeouts in 62 2/3 regular-season innings last year for the World Series champions, tallying 34 saves.

Dean Deetz has been suspended 80 games for performance-enhancing drug use.

Deetz tested positive for Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, also known as Oral Turinabol. The 24-year-old right-hander had a 4.25 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, and 97/50 K/BB ratio in 84 2/3 innings last season between Double-A Corpus Christi and Triple-A Fresno, and he was added to the Astros' 40-man roster in November. Deetz was an 11th-round pick in 2014 out of Northeast Oklahoma A&M.

Jon Singleton has been suspended 100 games following a third positive test for a drug of abuse.

Singleton once ranked among the top prospects in baseball, but he hasn't appeared in a game at the MLB level since 2015 and the 26-year-old first baseman posted a rough .205 batting average in 500 plate appearances last season at Double-A Corpus Christi. This latest drug suspension obviously won't help his already-fledgling standing within the Astros organization. Singleton signed a rare pre-debut $10 million extension with Houston back in 2014. That contract will expire after the 2018 campaign.

Boshers was designated for assignment for the Twins last week after the Addison Reed signing. The southpaw owns a 4.59 ERA and 78/25 K/BB ratio over 86 1/3 career relief innings. He could surface in a specialist role.

According to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, Brad Peacock is expected to pitch out of the Astros' bullpen to begin the 2018 season.

With the addition of Gerrit Cole on Saturday, the Astros' rotation appears to be set with the right-hander joining Justin Verlander, Dallas Keuchel, Charlie Morton and Lance McCullers. Peacock could wind up being used in a swing role, the way that Joe Musgrove was utilized in 2017.

The deal was reported to be done earlier in the week but hit a snag, and had gone quiet in recent days. Apparently the chasm wasn't wide enough to still not get it done, giving the Astros another stud in a rotation full of them. Cole put up a 4.26 ERA in 33 starts last year but has consistently been one of the league's best starters in recent years.